Government Regulation of Gas Prices?

The last time we had the government try to control things we had gas rationing based on the last digit of your licnese plate. When the government gets involved it mess things up and causes more problems. Look at Social Security. Let the market regulate itself and get the government out of it including where they can and can not drill. The price would come down tomorrow if the government sait it would issue permits to drill off the coast of the US and in Alaska. speculators would lose their edge in the market and would not be speculating on the gas market.

the same is happening all over the world. the price of oil is going up like there is no tomorrow and the people that could prevent it aren't very concerned because they benefit from it in one way or the other. instead of demanding governments to find a way to lower the price of oil we should be demanding the governments to create a company that could produce "green" cars. car companies want several years to adapt to new fuels and new rules because all their cars are planed with 5+ years of work before they hit the market. But the truth is that some companies already have eco car prototypes that can do speeds of 200km+ (140Mph+) and they still don't want to mass produce a "green" car that goes only half the speed. the world has the knowledge, but the ones that hold it benefit from hiding it.

Hey i am from india and the fuel prices here are regulated by the govt. In the process of this regulation of prices which is govt's political necessity the fuel refining companies are going bust as their refining margins stand eroded. As most of these companies are owned by the govt they have been issued bonds to partly undo their losses but it has its own problems. This is adding to the fiscal deficit and if one studies closely the fiscal deficit is likely to double than what the govt had targetted if it happens to issue bonds to oil refining companies. To it the govt is trying to control high inflation which if takes in to account actual fuel prices would move to double figure. So now it is facing a dual task to combating infalation and fiscal discipline and i would say it has failed on both fronts. I feel that the policy of letting the demand and supply decide the actual price is the best policy and the govt can play its part by cutting import duties and other taxes on the fuel and crude oil as it would not have a negative effect on net realisation of tax collection and at the same time would give some relief to actual consumers.